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| | Asia Times Online :: Japan News and Japanese Business and Economy |
 | | Koizumi took a political gamble by dissolving the Lower House of the diet, Japan's parliament, on August 8, only hours after postal privatization bills, the centerpiece of his reform program, were voted down by the Upper House by a vote of 125 to 108. |
 | | Koizumi apparently hopes to produce the evolving political drama as a battle between reformist forces, represented by the LDP and New Komeito, and anti-reformist ones, represented by the DPJ, other much smaller opposition parties and rebellious LDP lawmakers. |
 | | Junya Koizumi, a former defense agency chief, was born in Kagoshima, a southern Japanese prefecture that used to be the territory of the Satsuma Domain during the Edo Period. |
| www.atimes.com /atimes/Japan/GH18Dh01.html (3022 words) |
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